Soul Eater: The Old Witch Mabaa
by Ronnin-themanwithnoprinciples
Summary: Set 50 years before the current events of Soul Eater, when a new student who cannot seem to match anyone's wavelength enters DWMA, what happens when one girl takes up the challenge of his vague personality? And what happens when Lord Death happens to take notice of the two?
1. Enrollment

**DISCLAIMER:**** I do not own the Soul Eater Franchise.**

**IMPORTANT: This Fanfiction takes place 50 years before the beginning of Soul Eater storyline.  
**

Soul Eater: The Old Witch Mabaa

_Chapter 1: Enrollment_

"Arrived," A boy said as he got to the top of the extremely long staircase that led up to a magnificent building.

The building was called the Demon Weapon Meister Academy, a.k.a. DWMA. A school dedicated to training Meisters and making Death Scythes, the personal weapon of Lord Death. This boy that had just arrived was a Meister by the name of Takumi Watanabe; this would mark his first day at DWMA, but somehow, he didn't feel like it would be a pleasant day.

Takumi had brown hair and brown eyes, his clothes were casual, his shirt was deep black, with just a large white line going down the left side, and his pants were a light brown and just a bit too short for him. As he approached DWMA's front doors, he saw many Meisters and Weapons conversing with each other over fighting strategies, techniques, or just about daily life.

When Takumi entered the school, he saw a sign that pointed freshmen where to go. After following the signs placed all around the school, he found a room with a 'welcome freshmen' sign above it, and he entered the room to find a bunch of other new student waiting for instructions from the teacher in the room.

The teacher walked up to Takumi. "Are you a Meister or Weapon?" he asked.

"Meister," Takumi replied.

"Then put this on your shirt," The teacher told Takumi, handing him a tag that read 'Meister'. "Alright everyone listen up, I'm one of the instructors here; my name is Diego. The reason you all are here today is so that you can get to know everyone. From here on out the Meisters will need to find Weapons and Weapons will need to find Meisters. Don't rush into anything though; it'll take time for you to find someone you want as your partner. For those that can't find their own partner, you can try out the bingo tournament in the feeling partner game, A lot of people have found their partners using this method, so don't go and shrug it off without any consideration. Now I would like you all to take this approximate plans printed here." Diego said handing out some fliers to everyone. "That will be all for today, you are dismissed." Diego told them and some began to leave the room while others stayed awhile longer.

Takumi sat down in a chair without so much as glancing at the other students. "Not me." He said to himself.

"U-um," A girl said to Takumi, who looked up at her. She had short blonde hair and was wearing a simple white dress. "M-my name is Mignon, I'm a W-Weapon. I, I don't suppose you would be willing to partner up with me?" She asked, and Takumi held out his hand as if to receive something.

"Change," Takumi said, but Mignon didn't understand what he meant. "Transform," he said, and Mignon realized he wanted her to transform into her weapon form.

"R-right." She replied and transformed into long staff in Takumi's hand, but when Takumi tried to grasp it, it slid strait from his hand onto the floor. "I-I'm so sorry." Mignon said and transformed back. "I must have done something wrong, p-please give/"

"You didn't do anything wrong," Diego said to Mignon. "What just happened was a classic example of your soul wavelengths not matching. You see when a Weapon and a Meister fight together, they have to feel each others wavelength and link them so that the Meister is able to wield the Weapon in battle, if the wavelengths don't match, then the Meister cannot wield the Weapon, just as you two." Diego explained.

"O-oh, I see, w-well, I guess I'll se you later, um..." Mignon said, not having learned Takumi's name in the first place.

"Takumi," Takumi told Mignon.

"R-right, b-bye," Mignon said, and scurried away.

Takumi sighed and left the room, not caring enough about this to stay any longer. While Takumi was walking down the hall, he saw a couple of people who already found their partners. Takumi was paying such little attention to his surroundings that he bumped into one of the other freshmen while walking past him.

"Hey!" the guy shouted at Takumi.

"Hm?" Takumi turned to the guy.

"You don't just walk into people like that!" The boy yelled at Takumi.

"Not watching," Takumi replied.

"Huh, not watching, what's that supposed to mean?" The boy asked, not understanding Takumi's vague response.

"Attention," Takumi said, but this only confused and aggravated the boy more.

"You making fun of me or something? What's your name anyways?" The boy asked.

"Takumi," Takumi said.

"I see, well then Takumi, prepare to have your butt whooped by me: Nolan Tupper. Dalibor, transform!" Nolan told the person behind him.

"Dalibor Nitzel is here! Wailing on this guy should be pretty fun." Dalibor replied, changing into his weapon form; a large battle axe. "Let's cut him in half!" Dalibor screamed, just wanting to fight.

"So then, get your partner, I want this to be a fair fight." Nolan told Takumi

"He doesn't have a partner yet," Diego said, suddenly appearing on the scene.

"Oh, no partner, well I guess he'll just have to take my trashing head on!" Nolan said, and jumped at Takumi, swinging his partner down on him, but Takumi slid to the side to dodge with a look that only made Nolan even angrier.

"U-um, is it alright to just let them fight like this, Mr. Diego?" Mignon asked.

"This is how DWMA has always been," Diego replied and watch the fight.

"Stand still," Nolan shouted at Takumi, who was doing nothing but dodging Nolan's attacks with ease.

Nolan swung his ax at Takumi from the right, and Takumi ducked to avoid it then punched Nolan in his gut, making him let go of his weapon. He then delivered two more punches to his face to knock him down.

"Nolan!" Dalibor shouted as he transformed back and ran over to his partner.

"It's pointless." Takumi said, referring not to the battle with Nolan and Dalibor as it seemed, but rather to the need of a partner. Takumi did not need a partner; he didn't really even want one, which he suspected was why his and Mignon's wavelengths didn't match.

"A-amazing, he didn't even need a w-weapon," Mignon said to herself out loud.

"Congratulations on winning your first DWMA fight Takumi Watanabe." Diego told Takumi.

"Don't care," Takumi replied.


	2. First Day

_Chapter 2: First Day_

Takumi sat down in the classroom and waited for his first class of DWMA to begin. He looked around and noticed that Nolan and Dalibor, whom he fought the other day, were also in the class, as well as Mignon who was speaking to a boy sitting next to her who had his legs up on the desk, and was probably her partner. He was wearing an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt with a plain white T-shirt under it. He also had on baggy blue jeans and open toed sandals, and had perked up blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Alright class, settle down." The teacher said as she entered. She was African, and was wearing a black button up shirt and white pants, as well as having her black hair tied back. "And take your feet off the desk Kevin Astaire." She told the boy next to Mignon.

"Alright, teacher!" Kevin shouted loudly and waved to make sure everyone turned to look at him.

"P-please, Kevin, settle down, you'll get us in trouble." Mignon tried to get Kevin to be quiet.

"Alright students," The teacher began. "First off allow me to welcome you all to DWMA and introduce myself. My name is Izola, and I'm a weapon, some of you already met my Meister Diego during the welcoming ceremonies yesterday." Izola said. "Now let's get strait to it, who here can tell me/" Izola began but was interrupted by the doors opening and another student walked in.

"Sorry I'm late, I overslept last night." The girl said while panting a bit. The girl had long black hair and blue eyes, and was wearing a long sleeve light purple shirt along with a skirt.

"Yes, you are... Zhi Xiyan, correct? Izola inquired.

"Yes, ma'am," Zhi replied.

"Well answer my question and we'll forget about your tardy. Can you tell me what Soul Perception is?" Izola asked.

"Yes, Soul Perception is a technique some Meister's and Weapon's can learn that allow them to see the soul of others in order to determine their overall strength, as well as being able to determine if someone is human, Weapon, Kishin, or Witch. I myself have Soul Perception." Zhi answered.

"Very good, now take your seat."

"Right," Zhi said, and took a seat next to Takumi. "Hi, my name's Zhi, although I guess you already knew that." Zhi whispered to Takumi, although he all but ignored her, and she made a sour expression. "Well, what's your name?" She asked.

"Takumi," Takumi replied, not really paying attention to her.

"Last name?" Zhi asked.

"Why?" Takumi wondered.

"Well I think it's a good idea to let a lot of people know who you are. It helps you get friends and I still need a partner besides, so it helps with that too." Zhi answered, somehow understanding that Takumi's question was directed at why she was introducing herself rather than why she wanted to know his last name. "Speaking of partners, you're a Meister; do you have a partner yet?" She asked, knowing he was a Meister with the Soul Perception she mentioned having.

"No," Takumi replied.

"Well you can't just not get a partner, it the whole point of being enrolled here." Zhi noted, again deciphering Takumi's vague response to realize he meant that he wasn't interested in having a partner rather than saying he just didn't have one.

"Others," Takumi said.

"Yeah, really the point of this school is so we can fight and defeat Kishin and Witches to keep the world from going into chaos." Zhi said, knowing Takumi meant there were other reasons for the school. "But the bigger picture behind it is getting their souls to make a Death Scythe, right?"

"Leave it," Takumi replied.

"So you think it's fine if you just leave that job to the other student and you're really better off just fighting yourself, huh. Well I think it's still a better idea for you to try and get a partner anyways." Zhi told Takumi.

"Zhi Xiyan, Takumi Watanabe, I would appreciate it if you pay attention during class." Izola said up to them, noticing their conversation.

"Oh, sorry, teacher." Zhi said, a bit embarrassed. "Talk after class, Kay?" Zhi said to Takumi.

Takumi didn't reply, but actually by asking to talk more after class, he only just now realized how long they had been talking to begin with. Takumi had never been able to hold a full conversation because he was always so vague, and the only thing that made it more surprising was that Zhi never had to ask what Takumi meant once, somehow she understood each word he spoke, no matter how or when it was used.

In this realization, he couldn't help but take one last glance at Zhi, who looked like she was still waiting a reply from her question to talk after class. "Fine," He said, almost without thinking before saying it.

"Okay then everyone, tomorrow we'll have a quiz over the basics." Izola said as class ended.

"Say what!?" Nolan shouted. "Second day there's a quiz!? Give us a break!" He said, outraged.

"That's the way I run my class, get used to it Nolan Tupper." Izola told him.

"Want to beat her up?" Dalibor asked, just wanting to fight someone.

"Tch nah, we'd get in too much trouble with administration if we charged a teacher. We'll go find something else to smash." Nolan told Dalibor, and the two left.

"We'll be leaving now!" Kevin announced and pulled Mignon to make sure they were noticed.

"D-don't, Kevin, everyone's staring." Mignon begged Kevin to calm down.

"Staring just means they know you're there Mignon, it's a good thing." Kevin replied and started charging through the door, pulling Mignon along with him.

Takumi and Zhi seemed to be the only ones who left the room without making a fuss over something, and once they got out, Zhi started talking to Takumi again. "So why don't you want a partner?" She asked.

"No point," Takumi replied.

"I thought I already covered the point." Zhi retorted, and Takumi just shrugged in response. "Even if you don't want one, it's probably a good idea to try anyways. And if you're really against it, I'll just have to bug you till you agree to be mine." Zhi warned.

"Search?" Takumi said as a question.

"I could go find someone else, but I've become set on being your partner." Zhi answered.

"Change," Takumi said, meaning she should change her mind and find someone else.

"Nope, that won't happen. Once I decide to do something you can never change my mind." Zhi told Takumi.

"Luck," Takumi said, meaning she'll need a lot of luck to change his mind.

"Luck's got nothing to do with it, all that matters is when your breaking point is. How long do you think you can go telling me no?" Zhi asked Takumi.

"No," Takumi said once more, telling Zhi that he could go on plenty.

"Then I guess I'll just end up following you for a long while then. Besides, I love a good challenge." Zhi said with a lot of confidence she would convince Takumi to be her partner. "So how about we go study for that quiz tomorrow?"

"Good," Takumi replied, meaning that was a good idea, and still Zhi understood it like it was a full sentence.

"Yo Takumi," Nolan said as he walked up with Dalibor.

"What?" Takumi asked.

"I want to pay you back for how you humiliated me yesterday." Nolan said as he made a fist.

"No," Takumi told Nolan, and tried walking past, but Nolan stopped him.

"You're not walking away from this!" Nolan shouted in Takumi's ear.

"Think," Takumi said, telling Nolan he should think twice before challenging him, but of course Nolan just got angrier at the vague response.

"Cut the crap!" Nolan shouted and threw a punch at Takumi, but he ducked and jumped back, not fighting back as he wasn't interested in the challenge whatsoever. "Dalibor!" Nolan called, and Dalibor changed into his battle axe form.

Nolan then swung Dalibor at Takumi, a few times, but each one Takumi dodged easily. "Excuse me," Zhi said suddenly, and Nolan and Takumi stopped to look back at her as she walked up behind Nolan. "I don't appreciate that very much." She told Nolan with a huge grin on her face.

"Huh, what are you talking about?" Nolan asked irritated.

"You were ignoring me." Zhi said, then immediately changed her expression to one of dislike. "I don't like it when people ignore me." She said, and threw a kick around at Nolan's stomach, making him drop Dalibor, then she punched him in the side of his face to knock him down, and Dalibor changed back to his human form to help him up.

"Nicely done," Diego said, randomly appearing on the scene, and spooking Zhi.

"Wow, where did you come from?" She asked.

"I was around and saw your battle start." Diego replied.

"Oh, Diego, you're here? Come over here and help me for a minute." Izola said as she peaked out of the classroom, and Diego went over to her.

For a moment Zhi just seemed confused, but then recollected her thoughts and spoke to Takumi once more. "So, should we go study?" She asked.

"Right," Takumi replied, seemingly unfazed by anything that just happened.


	3. Becoming Partners

_Chapter 3: Becoming Partners_

Over the course of the next week at DWMA, Zhi was keeping to her word and was sticking around with Takumi to try and convince him to be her partner; although so far Takumi had been unwavering in his determination not to take on a partner at all.

"Alright then, class dismissed." Izola told everyone, and they all got up to leave the classroom.

"So what do you want to do?" Zhi asked Takumi, but all he did was shrug. "Well, want to go eat lunch?" Zhi asked, but Takumi didn't reply, which made Zhi become upset. "Hey, don't just ignore me." She told Takumi.

"Hard," Takumi said.

"Hey now, don't go talking about me like I'm an annoying bug!" Zhi argued, knowing the Takumi meant that it was hard for him to ignore her while she constantly followed him everywhere he went.  
"Library," Takumi said, telling Zhi that his plan for now was to go study for a while.

"Alright then," Zhi replied and went along with Takumi.

After a while of studying, Zhi tried to start a conversation. "So have you been adapting to DWMA alright?" She asked, but Takumi didn't reply. "You could at least say 'fine'." Zhi said, getting irritated again by Takumi trying to ignore her.

"Fine," Takumi said, actually meaning that he would actually make some sort of response rather than say nothing from now on.

"Why don't you want a partner?" Zhi asked.

"Covered," Takumi said, meaning he had already told her his reason.

"You told me you didn't think there was a point in getting a partner, but I don't think that's a real reason, just an excuse." Zhi responded.

"Excuse?" Takumi asked, wondering what she meant by that.

"I think you just don't know how to communicate well, so you don't like talking to others much, and you're trying to distance yourself from everyone by not getting a partner." Zhi explained.

"You," Takumi said, saying that he's been talking with Zhi all this time.

"It's not like you want to, you think I'm just a burden, and I bet your still trying to figure out a way to get me off your back." Zhi said.

"Fine," Takumi said, meaning he thought it was fine if she thought all that.

"Why don't you try to talk with others?" Zhi asked.

Takumi took a moment before responding, "Personal," He said.

"Really, didn't think you had much personal stuff. But I guess that's just part of life, everyone has stuff they don't like talking about."

"Change," Takumi said, saying he wanted a different topic.

"New topic, alright," Zhi replied and lowered her voice to a whisper. "Have you noticed that Ms. Izola seems to be watching us?" She asked, and slightly nodded in the direction of their teacher, Izola, who seemed to have followed the two of them here and was now standing nearby just watching them.

"Ignoring," Takumi said.

"How can you just ignore her, I feel weird having my teacher follow me around. She's so easy to notice too." Zhi replied.

"Don't care," Takumi told her.

"Well, it's about noon, want to go get lunch?" Zhi asked.

"Sure," Takumi said, and the two of them got up and left the library, still being followed by Izola.

Takumi and Zhi got some food and walked around looking for seats. Takumi noticed one empty seat at a table and sat down there, but there wasn't a second seat for Zhi. "Hey, there's nowhere for me to sit." She complained.

"I know." Takumi said, having picked this seat in an attempt to ditch Zhi if not for a while.

Zhi got upset, and rather than leave she tapped on the girl's shoulder sitting next to Takumi. "Excuse me, would you mind moving somewhere else.

The girl turned to Zhi and obviously thought she was being nuts. "Huh, why should I, I was here first you-"

"MOVE!" Zhi shouted at her, her eyes changing from kind to almost evil, scaring the girl out of his wits, along with the surrounding people at the table.

"A-a-a-alright, don't get so upset. We'll move, we'll move." The girl said, and stood up with her food and ran away with sweat practically covering her face and a nervous grin across her face along with another girl that had been sitting with her that was likely her partner.

Zhi sat down next to Takumi, who seemed to be the only one unfazed by her act at this table, as everyone else scotched as far away from her as they could, even though she had her happy grin back. Although Takumi's effort failed, he didn't seem to care much about it past making an annoyed scowl, and just turned back to eat his food.

"Hey, you two!" A voice called, and Zhi and Takumi turned to see Nolan and Dalibor. "We've got a bone to pick with you guys!" Nolan told them.

"You guys again? Want to get your butts whooped again?" Zhi asked. "Alright, I'll humor you." She said and stood up, ready to fight. "Izola's watching right now so we're all set for a fight." Zhi said, and Izola who was still watching them close by jumped realizing that she had been noticed.

For a moment neither Nolan or Dalibor said anything, they just stared. Then Dalibor changed into weapon form and Nolan chopped the edge of Dalibor's axe into the table beside Takumi, who hadn't even moved. "Hey, you deaf or something? I'm talking to you too!" Nolan shouted at him.

"No," Takumi said, meaning he didn't want to fight them again.

"Well stand up and fight then!" Nolan shouted, not realizing the actual purposes of Takumi's word, and also taking Dalibor's axe and chopping Takumi's lunch in half.

Takumi stood up and turned away from Nolan. "No," He said again, and tried walking away, but Nolan ran around and stopped him from proceeding. "Fine," Takumi said, just getting annoyed with Nolan's constant bothering him, and stepped back so he was standing next to Zhi. "Switch," He said to Zhi, surprising her.

"Thought you didn't a partner?" Zhi said, as Takumi was telling her to transform into a weapon.

"What?" Takumi asked, asking her if she was trying to talk her out of it.

"No, I'm just glad I won." Zhi said and transformed into her weapon form.

In her weapon form, Zhi took on the form of two metallic gloves connected to each other by a metal chain.

"Ready," Takumi told Nolan, who then charged forward and swung his axe down on Takumi, and rather than dodge, Takumi ducked down and put up his arms, which put the chain of Zhi's weapon form in the way to block.

Takumi then stood up and pushed Nolan back, then ran up to punch him, but this time Nolan blocked with the broad side of his axe and pushed Takumi back. Nolan then swung his axe at Takumi from the side, and Takumi bent backward to get his body just below the attack, and once it was past, stood up strait and punched Nolan's chest.

"Takumi, grab Dalibor!" Zhi told Takumi, and he reached his hand down at Dalibor's handle and grabbed it, then kicked Nolan away, so Takumi now had control of Dalibor.

"Please, are you stupid, I can just change back to human form." Dalibor said, but then a moment past with nothing happening. "Huh?" Dalibor said, sounding confused. "What's going on, why I can't change back?" Dalibor asked, as he seemed to be stuck in weapon form.

"Of course you can't, that's my ability!" Zhi exclaimed with pride. "If my weapon form comes in contact with someone, their soul wavelength becomes recorded over me, so it's like I have two soul wavelengths. The best part of this is that I can use the recorded soul wavelength to allow my meister to wield and control any other weapon that soul wavelength is compatible with, even if his own wavelength isn't, and in this case, it's you." Zhi explained.

"But that shouldn't mean I can't change back!" Dalibor argued.

"Except with my ability I shift the secondary wavelength and have it merge with your own, giving me control of whether or not you can change back to human form as long as I am in contact with you." Zhi said.

"No way, you're cheating!" Nolan said as he stood up again, even angrier than before.

"No we're not, we're just taking advantage of you." Zhi said back with a bit of a snobby tone.

"Here," Takumi said and held Dalibor up and threw him toward Nolan. Though just at the last moment Zhi used her ability to force Dalibor back into human form, so Dalibor ended up being flung at Nolan and knocked him down again, both of them on the floor.

Zhi changed back to human form. "Well, that's that. Good job, partner!" Zhi said, grinning at the fact she got him to agree to being her partner.

"Right," Takumi replied, surprising Zhi again, and then she smiled at him.

"So, the two of you are partners now huh?" Diego said, suddenly beside Takumi and Zhi, completely freaking Zhi out, although Takumi didn't seemed shocked.

"Mr. Diego, where the heck did you come from!?" Zhi asked, not having noticed him at all.

Diego laughed. "I was around. Ah, Izola, can I talk with you for a minute?" Diego asked and walked over to Izola, and the two of them left the cafeteria.

"Dang it!" Nolan shouted, finally getting up. "Why can't I beat you guys!?" He screamed.

"Better," Takumi said, and walked away.

Nolan didn't understand Takumi and looked like he was about to explode, so Zhi cut in to translate. "Uh, he meant that you improved since last time." She told him, and then walked away with Takumi, happy to be his partner.


	4. E A T

_Chapter 4: E.A.T_

Nolan and Dalibor fell were flung onto their backs after fighting with Takumi and Zhi again for the fifth time this week alone, both only getting more and more pissed off because of it. "Dang it!" Nolan shouted, and he and Dalibor got up and walked away.

Zhi changed back into human form and grinned at Takumi, who's stale expression didn't change. "Class," Takumi said as the bell rang for class to start.

"O.K. class, let's get started on the lesson..." Izola began as class started.

After class ended, Takumi and Zhi went and ate lunch. "Hey, Takumi," Zhi started. "Ms. Izola is watching us again."

"Stop," Takumi said, telling Zhi to stop worrying about it.

"How can I not worry, she's been following us around all the time lately, any ideas on why?" Zhi asked.

"Don't know," Takumi replied.

"It's really starting to get on my nerves. I mean who does she think she's fooling? She's in plain sight all the time."

"Ask," Takumi said, telling Zhi that if it bothered her that much to go ask Izola herself.

"That would feel weirder than her just following us." Zhi said, and Takumi sighed, standing up and walking away. A bit confused, Zhi stood up and followed him. "Where are you going?" She asked.

"Asking," Takumi said, meaning that since it bothered her so much, he would ask what was going on, even though he didn't care about it.

Rather than going strait up to Izola, Takumi went into the currently empty halls of DWMA since everyone was either at lunch or in class. Strangely enough though, Izola didn't follow them out of the cafeteria. Takumi and Zhi waited for a moment, but still didn't see Izola, but rather a couple of new faces.

"Hey, we're looking for Takumi and Zhi. You them?" One of the two girls walking up asked.

"Who's asking?" Zhi replied.

The two girls stopped in front of Takumi and Zhi. "My name's Naomi Garner, this here is my partner Florence Garner, and she's also my younger sister. I'm the meister and she's the weapon." Naomi explained. Naomi had shoulder-length brown hair and green eyes, then she took a good look at Takumi and then froze at Zhi. "AH!" She screamed suddenly. "Your that freaky girl from the cafeteria last week!" She said.

For a moment Zhi was lost until she thought back to when Takumi sat at a full table to try and ditch her for lunch, and she got the girl sitting next to him to move by freaking her out. "Oh, that was you wasn't it?"

"There I was just minding my own business, eating my lunch, and you give me the evil stare-down. I'm still freaking out about it, but I guess that makes this a good opportunity for me to get back at you."

"What," Takumi asked.

"Uh, he means, 'what do you want with us?'" Zhi translated Takumi's vague question.

"We want to fight you. You two have been earning quite the reputation for yourselves for a couple of new kids you know. All the fights you've had, people are really starting to recognize you walking through the halls. I've even heard a couple people refer to you as the 'boxing champ' because of your great hand-to-hand combat." Naomi explained. "We've come to challenge you for the purpose-"

"Um, Naomi, I don't mean to interrupt you, but I don't think you should tell them that much..." Florence said. Florence's brown hair was braided and went all the way down her back and had blue eyes.

"Oh, you're right about that. Thanks for stopping me there Florence." Naomi said with a grin. "Alright, now that I've told you why we're here, shall we get started with this fight of ours?"

"No," Takumi said.

Quickly, Zhi translated for Takumi. "Oh, he's saying that we're not allowed to fight unless there's a teacher present to watch."

"That's alright," Diego said, suddenly sitting in a corner near the four with a bag of chips. "I'm here, you may continue."

"Mr. Diego, would you stop that! No one ever gets used to you popping up out of nowhere like that! It freaks everyone out and frankly it's not nice to sneak up on people! Even if we knew you were coming it would freak us out!" Naomi shouted at Diego, then turned back to Takumi and Zhi.

"Well, are you satisfied now, or is there another rule you want to throw at me?" Naomi asked Takumi.

"Fine," Takumi said, and Zhi changed into her weapon form.

Florence also turned into her weapon form, in which she had the appearance of a classic black whip. "Ready? Cause even if your not I'm coming at you now." Naomi said, and ran toward Takumi, taking her partner and swinging hr whip head down at Takumi.

Takumi took a step to the side and the whip missed, and it cracked against the ground, actually breaking the tile it struck. Takumi then ran at Naomi and threw a punch at her face, but she flipped to the side to avoid it, then swung her Weapon at Takumi from the side, but Takumi ducked just below the swing then ran up again and kicked Naomi, but she was too fast and jumped back out of the way.

"This is a good match up." Diego said to himself as he watched the fight. "While Takumi excels in close-quarters fighting, Naomi fights best from mid-range. Putting these two up against each other not only shows their weaknesses, but tells how well they can adapt to another's fighting style. I picked the right pair to test Takumi and Zhi."

Naomi swung her whip down at Takumi again, this time giving it a little more speed. Instead of dodging it Takumi put the chain that connected his gloves in the way so it rapped around the chain so Naomi couldn't swing it around anymore.

"Oh that was a bad move, just what I wanted you to do in fact." Naomi said and twisted the handle of the whip and it electrified. The electricity surged through the whip and then surged through Zhi's metal weapon form and shocked both her and Takumi.

After a moment from the shock, Takumi managed to pull away from the whip and escape with minimal damage. "Sorry about that, were you hurt too badly?" Florence asked them, as she was too kind for her own good. with that trait, it was probably best that she was a weapon instead of a meister, as it might be hard for her to fight others if she were.

"Florence, you don't need to apologize, when they got in the fight they knew there was a chance to get hurt, the same thing applies to us." Naomi told her sister. "Did you like that trick? Lightning is Florence's attribute, with a simple turn of the handle I can send an electrical current all down the whip, electrifying anything it comes in contact with, so long as it can conduct electricity of course. It also has a paralysis effect on my opponent, and if I shock them enough, I can almost completely paralyze my opponent." Naomi explained.

Takumi shook off the shock of the electricity and ran at Naomi, throwing a punch at her head, but she leaned to the side and dodged it. The electrical attack did seem to slow him down a bit as Naomi had said it would, and that might have some effect on the battle. Naomi swung her whip down on Takumi again, but Takumi was still able to jump to the side and avoid it, despite having been slowed down by Naomi's electricity.

"Takumi, we need to get the whip away from Naomi." Zhi said.

"Wavelength," Takumi said, telling Zhi that since they hadn't hit Naomi yet they didn't have the wavelength needed to control Florence.

"We don't need to use the whip, just need to get it away from her." Zhi explained, and Takumi nodded.

Naomi started swinging her whip at Takumi rapidly now that the paralysis had really started taking effect. To compensate, Takumi mad smaller movements and tried to stay in one spot as much as he could so he wasn't exerting himself too much with movement. As Naomi realized what he was doing, she started striking with her whip just to the sides of Takumi on purpose to box him in for a final strike, and just when she saw her chance, she took it and swung her whip down on top of Takumi hard and fast.

Takumi saw his chance hand put his hand up to block, since Zhi's weapon form was made of metal, he wouldn't feel the snap of the whip against his hand too much, so it was just the electricity he needed to watch out for. Just as the whip hit Takumi's hand, he gripped the whip's tip so Naomi couldn't retract it.

"Did you already forget about Florence's electric ability. Metal conduct's electricity, so now you're all-" Naomi started to explain how she won, but in taking so long Takumi pulled on the whip and pulled Naomi forward with it, as well as getting it out of her grip. Without first hitting Naomi, Takumi wouldn't be able to use Florence, so he just let the whip drop to the ground behind him and ran forward at Naomi, who was stumbling. Florence transformed back into her human form, but being behind Takumi she wouldn't reach Naomi in time to help her.

Takumi struck Naomi in her gut with his palm while she was stumbling and unable to dodge. "Soul force," Takumi said and shot his soul wavelength at Naomi, making her fly back a few feet.

Florence ran over to her sister and helped her up. "Naomi, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm alright." Naomi replied and stood up. "For a new kid, that was a pretty good attack you had just there, most people don't start using skills of that level that until their in the EAT class. Although then again..."

"That's why I had them fight you in the first place." Diego said as he stood up.

Zhi transformed back into human form. "You had them fight us, why?" She asked.

"Takumi, Zhi, you two have extraordinary abilities, even for someone who's been enrolled here for a year or two like these two." Diego said motioning at Naomi and Florence. "That's why I went and asked Lord Death if I could have you bumped up from the NOT class to the EAT class early. Although before we could do that, we needed to give you a real test of your abilities, so Izola recommended Naomi and Florence, and they were up for the job."

"You guys know what the NOT and EAT classes are by now right?" Naomi asked. "90% of the students at DWMA are in the NOT class, which are for the people who haven't completely learned how to use their abilities in combat and weapon who haven't mastered their weapon forms. Those in the NOT class learn how to do just this, and then are move up to the EAT class, which is the advanced division where the other 10% go and take on jobs and combat Witches and Kishin's. NOT stands for Normally Overcome Target, and EAT stands for Especially Advanced Talent, and/" Naomi explained.

"All the first years naturally start off in the NOT class, but since you two already had great abilities, I decided you should get moved to the EAT class sooner." Diego concluded, cutting off Naomi who was just starting to get too far in depth.

"So your saying we're really going to be in the EAT class now!?" Zhi said with excitement.

"Well almost," Diego said, striking down Zhi's hopes. "There's one more thing you two need to do before you can join the EAT class."

"What?" Takumi asked.

"You need to go on this mission and complete it." Diego said, giving Takumi and Zhi a paper with mission specs on it.

"Yes, sir!" Zhi said, taking the mission.


	5. First Soul

_Chapter 5: First Soul_

Takumi, Zhi, Naomi and Florence walked through the streets New York City. Takumi and Zhi were on a job that would decide whether or not they would make it into the EAT class. They had one target, David the .44 caliber killer. There mission was to locate and kill the target, and have Zhi eat his Kishin soul. This was a classic kind of mission people of the EAT class went on all the time in order to keep the balance of the world and create a Death Scythe, a weapon used by Lord Death, the founder of DWMA.

"Now keep in mind that even though Kishin's mostly only show up during the night, it's not alright for you to drop your guard during the day." Naomi reminded Takumi and Zhi. "After all it's not like we're here on a sightseeing trip, it's a job you've got to do and..."

"Got it," Takumi interrupted Naomi's rambling.

"Why are you two here anyways? It's our mission." Zhi asked Naomi and Florence.

Naomi seemed to get nervous when Zhi turned to her, probably because she was still freaking out from Zhi having scared her senseless at lunch last week, so Florence answered. "Well you two are still inexperienced in fighting Kishin's, so our job is to make sure nothing goes wrong and to jump in if something does."

"Although keep in mind that if we do have to jump in, you two won't get accepted into the EAT class, you'll have to stay down in the NOT class for probably another whole year." Naomi said.

"I'm not worried about it." Zhi said with a confident smile.

"Another?" Takumi asked, referring back to Naomi's comment when she said 'another whole year.'"

Naturally, Zhi was the only one who understood the comment, and she appeared to become nervous. "That's probably just Naomi rambling again." She said, but since Naomi didn't understand Takumi's question, she didn't understand how Zhi's answer was appropriate, and just became confused.

"Wait a sec, you two just lost me there, what are you talking about? You said 'another' like a question. How was the answer my rambling?" Naomi asked, then in response Zhi looked up at Naomi and made the same evil face she made at her from lunch.

"Drop it!" She said, freaking Naomi out again, and she walked back to her sister, way from Zhi. Takumi was still wondering why Naomi used 'another year', but didn't care too much and dropped it.

Night fell on New York City, and while most people were at home asleep, Takumi, Zhi, Naomi and Florence were searching around the town for their target. It wasn't until about midnight they got their lead; the four of them heard a women's shout of terror followed by a gunshot. Anyone still left on the streets went into a panic, and the lights of many houses started coming on in response to the loud sound.

"Zhi," Takumi said, and Zhi understood and transformed into her weapon form and Takumi ran for where the sound came from, followed closely by Naomi and Florence.

Takumi went around a corner and stopped, what he saw was a horrible creature over a women's dead body, killed by a bullet through the heart, their soul now being eaten by the creature. The creature's skin was pale, and it had beady black eyes as well as a few stands of hair pointing up from it's head. it also had gun barrels that took the place of its pointer fingers, .44 caliber. There was no mistaking it, this was their target, the Kishin.

"David the .44 caliber killer," Zhi began. "We will take your soul."

The Kishin did not speak, but raised his hand and pointed the barrel of his finger-gun at Takumi, and fired a bullet. Takumi reacted quickly and jumped to the side just before the bullet was fired to avoid it, then ran up to the Kishin. Just when he got in front of it, the Kishin put the gun barrel in front of Takumi's head, ready to shot. But Takumi threw a punch at the Kishin's hand, knocking it away from his head just before the bullet shot, and then threw a second punch at the Kishin's face, knocking it back.

The Kishin stood up again, holding both of its gun barrels at Takumi, and began firing rapidly. Takumi reacted with speed and precision, not only dodging the bullets, but also working his way closer to get his attack in. Even shooting as fast as it could, there was still a moments lag between each bullet shot, making it a bit easier for Takumi to dodge. Takumi got up close and got between the Kishin's hands so it couldn't shoot more bullets at him, and made to punch the Kishin in the gut.

However, the Kishin opened its mouth and a barrel of a gun was visible, much to Takumi's surprise. Takumi had no way to dodge because of his forward momentum, so instead he redirected his punch up so it was in front of his face just as the gun fired. The bullet ricocheted off the metal glove, but Takumi was knocked backward and off balance.

"Uh oh, things are getting bad." Naomi said as she watched. "Florence, get into weapon form, we're more then likely going to have to step in to help them in a moment., and when we do you know what it means for them, they can't enter the EAT class."

"Right," Florence said and turned into her whip form.

Takumi got his balance back, but it was too late, and the Kishin fired the gun in its mouth, shooting Takumi in the shoulder. "It's time to take control, let's get them out of there!" Naomi said and threw her whip at Takumi's arm, wrapping around it and she pulled him back so she could take control.

Naomi made to throw her whip at the Kishin, but when she did something stopped her, and she looked back to see that Takumi had grabbed the end of the whip to keep her from interfering. "Mine," Takumi told Naomi as he stood up. Since the Kishin had only fired the shot that hit Takumi's shoulder, Naomi only pulled him back, if another bullet had been fired that Naomi got Takumi out of the way of, he and Zhi would have already failed. But pulling him back from nothing couldn't be classified as helping, so their chance to get into the EAT class was still open.

Takumi ran forward again, zigzagging across the alley so the Kishin couldn't get a good shot until he got up in front of him. The Kishin tried firing a bullet at Takumi again, but this time he threw a punch up and hit the Kishin's chin, closing its mouth over the gun barrel and pointing his head upward so when the pullet shot out, it went up and through its out teeth.

"Zhi," Takumi said as the Kishin lost balance and made for another punch in its chin again, and right before it made contact, Zhi suddenly changed back into human form and jumped into the air behind the Kishin.

"What are they doing?" Florence asked.

Takumi's fist hit the Kishin and knocked it back, but just as that happened, Zhi threw her leg back at the Kishin's head to knock it forward, then landed on the ground behind it. Takumi then punched the Kishin in the gut to send it back at Zhi, who punched it in the back to send it back to Takumi again. The two of them continued the cycle of hitting the Kishin back and forth between them for a few more second, then Takumi kicked it in its side to make it go toward a wall.

When it hit the wall, Takumi and Zhi pulled it forward by its arms so it couldn't shoot at either one of them, afterward both delivering a kick to its gut and sending it flying upward. "Zhi," Takumi said, and Zhi changed back into weapon form. Takumi then gathered his soul wavelength in his palm and threw his palm up at the Kishin just as it came crashing down on top of it, breaking its back and killing it.

Once defeated, the Kishin's body disintegrated and its soul, a Kishin egg, showed. Zhi returned to human form and held the Kishin egg in her hand, then looked over at Naomi and Florence, who were both completely awestruck at their incredible combo, which only made Zhi grin. "Told you I wasn't worried." she told Naomi, then plucked the Kishin egg into her mouth, swallowing it.

Takumi and Zhi walked up to Naomi and Florence. "Guess that means we're in the EAT class now!" Zhi exclaimed with joy.

Finally recovering from their amazement, Naomi spoke. "That was very impressive, I'll admit. Since the Kishin was working a long range strategy, you two got on both sides of him to keep him from getting out of your close range fighting. Once you wore him down you finished him off."

"I think we know what we were doing, there's no reason to explain it all." Zhi said, and Naomi stopped, still scared of her.

"Well, congratulations." Florence told them. "We should head back to DWMA quickly now."

"Where's the rush?" Zhi asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound like I was rushing you, I just thought it best we get back as soon as possible; sorry." Florence apologized.

"No, no, it's fine, you're right." Zhi said.

"Takumi, I'm a little surprised you stopped me from intervening, I mean if I hadn't, you could have very well died, and then the whole point of us coming along would have been dumb."

"Mine," Takumi said, and Naomi tilted her head in confusion.

"He means that it was his fight, and he always finishes what he starts. He wasn't about to let you guys stop him from doing that."

"Oh? So your telling it's a pride issue?" Naomi summarized.

"No," Takumi replied, ad not understanding, Naomi turned to Zhi.

"This time there's nothing to add, he's not specifying what it really is." Zhi told Naomi. "Anyways let's get back to DWMA."

They arrived back at DWMA the next day, and almost upon entering the building, Diego appeared next to them, freaking everyone out except Takumi. "So, how'd it go?" He asked them.

Zhi stepped up and answered with pride. "Mission accomplished!"

"That's great news, then let me be the first to officially welcome you into the EAT class. Well you both start your new classes tomorrow, get some rest, and Takumi, you should go see the nurse right away." Diego told Takumi, noting the bullet hole in his shoulder.

The next day Takumi and Zhi arrived in their new class, the EAT class, and looked around at all the unfamiliar faces. "Takumi, Zhi!" They were called, and looked over to see Florence had been the one, sitting next to Naomi.

"Hey Florence, hi Naomi." Zhi said, and even though she was so cheery, Naomi still got a shiver down her spine when Zhi greeted her.

"Hello everyone! Kevin Astaire is here!" Kevin called, appearing at the door with Mignon, who became embarrassed.

"K-Kevin, please stop." She asked him, then saw Takumi. "Oh, Takumi, h-have you been promoted to the EAT class as well?" She asked him.

"Yeah," Takumi answered.

"Oh, so we're not the only one's who got scouted?" Zhi asked.

"Of course we'd get here fast, how could this school not notice my abilities!" Kevin stated.

"I don't know..." Zhi said, just playing along.

"WHAT!" Another voice yelled from the door, and the tone was so familiar Takumi and Zhi didn't even need to look before knowing who is was; Nolan and Dalibor were also here. "You can't be serious! I get to come to the EAT class and I still have to be in the same room with you for half the day!" He screamed at Takumi, genuinely hating him.

"Look on the bright side, Nolan. This gives us plenty more chances to beat his butt." Dalibor said.

"Tough talk for a couple of guys who are about 0-15 with us." Zhi bragged.

"I'll show you, just you wait!" Nolan screamed at her.

"Hello class." Diego said, suddenly appearing at the podium, freaking out everyone in the room.

"By now I guess you've all noticed them, but allow me to introduce our 6 new students." He said, motioning to Takumi, Zhi, Mignon, Kevin, Nolan and Dalibor, who had indeed cause quite the scene.

In response to everything, Takumi just sighed, feeling that with Nolan and the others, there would be nothing different from coming to the EAT class.


	6. Soul Resonance

_Chapter 6: Soul Resonance_

"Alright everyone, I'll now have our new students properly introduce themselves going from left to right." Diego said.

Dalibor was first. "My name's Dalibor Nitzel, I can't wait to cut all of you down." He said.

"I'm Nolan Tupper, just don't piss me off and you won't need to worry about me."

"I-I'm Mignon Petit, I'm pleased to meet you all."

"I," Kevin started loduly, raising his hand and making sure everyone was watching. "Am Kevin Astaire, and being here is pretty awesome!"

"Takumi Watanabe," Takumi said, just stating his name.

"My name's Zhi Xiyan, It's great to be here."

"The first five are all brand new students who only started attending DWMA this year." Diego began, making the five he spoke of look at him in question and Zhi stiffen up. "Zhi is the only one who has had a previous year of experience here, and all of them are extraordinarily skilled for such new students." Diego said, and all five of the others then looked back to Zhi, all having assumed Zhi was also here for her first year, although it did occur to them now that none of them had seen her at the opening ceremony for welcoming the new students.

It also explained why Naomi had said Zhi would need to wait 'another year' before getting to the EAT class when they were on their mission. And because the five of them now all knew that she had actually been here for a year beforehand and never got a partner until Takumi the following year, Zhi dropped her head in shame.

"Now, to start the day off, I'm going to teach you about 'Soul Resonance.'" Diego said.

"Oh, let us try!" Kevin said from behind holding up his and Mignon's hand.

"K-Kevin, please don't." Mignon pleaded with Kevin not to raise another scene.

"No Kevin, you kids aren't going to be the demonstration." Diego said.

"What's that supposed to mean? You still don't think we have what it takes do you!? Even though it was you who recommended we be moved to EAT class in the first place!" Nolan yelled.

"That's not what I mean; I mean _I_ will be giving the demonstration with my partner, Izola." Diego told Nolan and Izola entered the room. "Now all of you take your seats."

The six of them went and took seats around the room, and Zhi and Takumi decided to sit down next to Naomi and Florence. "Wow, those two guys are worse than you Zhi. You might be pure crazy, but those guys are freakishly impulsive, loud, and frankly just annoying." Naomi said, but then froze realizing that Zhi was probably using her evil face right now for calling her crazy, and slowly turned her head. However, Zhi still had her head down because of her secret being revealed, which somehow still made Naomi feel nervous.

"So how did you guys know this wasn't my first year?" Zhi asked Naomi.

"Mr. Diego told us about the two of you before we tested you. Mostly talked about your superior abilities and what not, but he did mention that it wasn't your first year, and you never had partner till now." Naomi answered.

"Alright class, some of you probably already know what Soul Resonance is, but for those that don't, Soul Resonance is a skill all Meisters and Weapons can perform together. It is an ability you use by the Meister cycling their soul wavelength into the Weapon, where the Weapon then amplifies the wavelength and sends it back to the Meister with their own wavelength, where the Meister also magnifies it and sends it back again. This process is repeated several times until the soul wavelength becomes dense enough in power it magnifies the abilities of the Weapon to form an advanced attack." Diego explained. "Now Izola and I will demonstrate how it looks." He said and Izola transformed into her weapon form.

Izola's weapon form was a longsword that first went strait, then bent forward, and slightly curved the rest of the way to the tip of the blade. It lacked a hand guard, and on the hilt was the symbol of DWMA, Lord Death's mask. Diego and Izola began cycling their soul wavelengths through each other like explained until Izola's blade began to glow with a white light.

"Soul Resonance; Shadow Blades!" Diego and Izola said together, and multiple blades that had the same shape as the blade of Izola's blade appeared floating around Diego, only they were made of something of a dark light. "In our case, our Soul Resonance allows us to gain multiple second blades that I can control independently of my main Weapon, and it also gives me a bit of a long range option in fighting. Now of course, the type of Soul Resonance changes depending on the kind of weapon. To figure out what kind of Soul Resonance you have, you'll just have to train and practice using Soul Resonance and find out.

"And in fact, that is your assignment for the next month." Diego told his class.

"What we want you all to do is practice performing Soul Resonance with your partners and try to get as much of a handle on using it as you can." Izola said. "Of course we don't expect any of you to perfect it, it will take a lot more training than a month to do that."

"And as a bonus, the first pair to get a handle on Soul Resonance and be able to stay in that mode for 3 minutes will receive no homework for a week." Diego told the class, which really got them rallied up.

"And anyone who cannot do so by the end of the month will receive extra homework." Izola added, getting everyone rallied up in the opposite way.

"Hey, is it alright if we try it right now?" Kevin asked, just wanting more attention, but embarrassing Mignon again.

"No Kevin," Diego declined. "I want all of you to have at least one night's practice before attempting the three minute marker."

"Ah, but that's no fun." Kevin whined, sitting back down while Mignon gave a sigh of relief.

"So want to practice on Soul Resonance after lunch?" Zhi asked Takumi after class ended.

"Sure," Takumi replied, and the two went to the cafeteria. After lunch the two of them went off campus and found an area of Death City they could train.

Zhi changed into weapon form. "Okay, remember what Mr. Diego told us, we need to cycle our soul wavelengths back and forth between each other while amplifying it over and over again to make the Soul Resonance." Zhi said to Takumi. "We need to make sure we concentrate hard to do this right."

"Right," Takumi said and closed his eyes and concentrated on sending his soul wavelength to Zhi. Takumi and Zhi concentrated as hard as they could, but nothing happened. "Why," Takumi asked, wondering why nothing was happening.

"I'm not sure… I can feel our wavelengths cycling through us with my soul perception, but for some reason we can't amplify it. It's just going back and forth." Zhi told Takumi. "Let's just try again." She said, and the two went back to concentrating on trying to perform Soul Resonance, but were still unsuccessful in amplifying the wavelength to create a resonance.

They continued trying to no avail for about ten minutes when Naomi and Florence found them. "Hey Takumi, Zhi!" Florence called out as they approached.

Zhi changed back to her human form and greeted them. "Hi guys, what are you up too?" She asked.

"Well after lunch we went by the mission board to see if there were any good missions up for grabs. The good ones were already taken though, so we came around the back of the school when that punk Nolan Tupper challenged us to a battle. Told him thanks but no thanks, but then he said…" Naomi went on and on, making Zhi very sorry she asked. "… So what were you guys doing out here?" She asked when she finally finished her long-winded explanation.

"Well we were trying to practice Soul Resonance, but we don't seem to be getting it." Zhi replied.

"No? Well if you want I could give you some pointers/"

"No thanks!" Zhi quickly rejected Naomi's offer, as pointers from her would end up consuming hours of their time.

"Well if you really want to try getting Soul Resonance down, the best way to do so is probably to go on a mission and try it out in battle." Florence suggested, trying to be of help.

Naomi agreed. "Florence is right, it's always easier to do hard stuff in a real battle when your adrenaline's pumping/"

"Thanks, maybe we'll give it a try." Zhi said, again cutting Naomi before she went on for too long, after dropping to a whisper. "By the way, I think Ms. Izola's following you." She told Naomi, noticing the teacher crouching down, being unsuccessful at hiding herself.

"Oh we noticed her about 20 minutes ago; she does this to everyone really. No one actually knows why, but they really just learned to deal with it. She doesn't do anyone any harm after all, just observes them." Naomi explained.

"Doesn't it annoy you though?" Zhi asked.

"It used to, but after awhile you just learn to cope with it. I mean if you think about it she may actually have a reason for it, it's just no one asks, so no one knows." Naomi shrugged.

Zhi made an exasperated sigh, as she seemed to be the only person with a problem with Izola's mysterious stalking habit. "Leaving," Takumi said to Zhi, who turned around and the two left together.


	7. Soul Resonance 2

_Chapter 7: Soul Resonance 2_

"So they went on that mission in Kentucky right?" Naomi confirmed as she and Florence looked over the missions' board.

"Yeah, is something the matter?" Florence replied.

"No, I was just checking because it is a ways away, so they won't be back for a while. And if they don't manage to get the hang of Soul Resonance like they wanted, they won't exactly have much time left to get it." Naomi explained.

"You're worried about them huh?" Florence understood.

Naomi however tried to deny that. "No, I'm just thinking they could've taken a mission closer than Kentucky!"

"It's alright, I'm worried too, but I'm sure they'll do fine." Florence said, ignoring her sister's rejection.

Naomi turned away and crossed her arms, then continued to scan the missions' board. "Huh," She muttered, noticing a certain mission, taking it down.

"What is it?" Florence asked.

Naomi's eyes were focused as she read the paper. "It's a mission in Kentucky," Naomi began. "It says the Vicious Harpe Brothers have shown up there."

"Vicious Harpe Brothers," Florence gasped. "But they're those Kishin that have been undefeated for months! What if Takumi and Zhi run into them?" She said.

"Okay, _now_ I'm worried about them…" Naomi said.

"Here we are." Zhi said as she looked around London, Kentucky.

"The mission," Takumi said, and Zhi turned to him.

"Right, the Kishin we're looking for this time is Donald, the 'Angel of Death'." Zhi told him, looking at the mission flyer they took on suggestion of Naomi and Florence.

It was already night time here, so they could get to work right away. "Let's go." Takumi said and they set off, looking for their target.

A few hours later, their target could be seen stepping in front of the Saint Joseph Hospital. As if to compliment its name as "Angel of Death", the Kishin had blades sticking out of its back like wings. It seemed to be wearing some kind of overcoat and as it stretched its fingers forward, each finger instead looked like a surgical scalpel.

The monster known as a Kishin walked slowly up to the hospital doors, and then with its scalpel fingers, cut the doors to pieces, and all the workers and patients inside were sent into a frightened frenzy.

Patients and doctors began running every which way to try and get away from the monster. But over on a bench there was a nurse who ran to a patient whose legs were paralyzed, and therefore could not move on his own. She tried to pick him up but before she could the Kishin was right on top of them.

The nurse and patient let out a scream of horror as the monster prepared to kill them. But then, a voice shouted from behind the Kishin. "Hey, this is a hospital! Lives are meant to be saved here." The voice said, and the Kishin turned around to see who it had been.

Takumi and Zhi had arrived just in time. "Let's go," Takumi stated and Zhi transformed into her brass knuckle gloves and Takumi ran at the Kishin, grabbing two of the blades sticking out of its back and throwing it away from the nurse and patient. "Run," He told them, and the nurse picked the patient up and ran into the hospital.

The Kishin got back to his feet and Takumi took a stance, ready to fight him off. "Alright, let's do this." Zhi told Takumi, and then both fighters charged forward at each other.

The Kishin swung its right hand with its bladed fingers aimed for Takumi's head. But Takumi wasn't about to go down that easily; he anticipated the Kishin's attack and ducked down just below the attack. Takumi clenched his fist and began sending his wavelength through. "Soul force," Takumi called and punched the Kishin in the gut, and the Angel of Death was launched outside the hospital into the street back up.

Takumi ran out and leaped at the Kishin. "It's over," He said and thrust down his fist to finish it off.

However, the six blades on the Kishin's back suddenly began moving and they all pointed to impale Takumi when he fell on top of him. Without Takumi even needing to say a word, Zhi took action and turned back to her human form and was on Takumi's back. She jumped off Takumi, which forced him to the ground before he hit the Kishin's blade and Zhi landed on the other side of it.

The Angel of Death got back to his feet and swung both his hands at Takumi, who managed to jump backward to avoid them. "Takumi!" Zhi called and leaped forward while turning into her weapon form.

Takumi put his hands forward and Zhi reformed as the brass knuckle gloves on his hands again just in time for Takumi to use the connecting chain to block another attack from the Kishin.

"Time to finish this," Zhi said, and Takumi focused and began to send his soul wavelength cycling into Zhi.

Zhi focused critically hard as the Kishin attempting to push its clawed hands to rip Takumi to shreds. She attempted to magnify the wavelength and perform a Soul Resonance. Then they felt it, the wavelength cycling between them was becoming stronger slowly but surely. They could feel their souls connecting.

"Soul…" Zhi began, but her, Takumi's and the Kishin's focused was taken off by a sudden scream within the town.

It was close too; whoever had made it was only a block or so away. And apparently, it had been enough to warrant the Angel of Death's attention, as it suddenly forgot about Takumi and Zhi and ran for the source of the scream.

Takumi didn't waste any time wondering what it might have been; he sprinted off attempting to catch his target. He continued chasing the Kishin for a block when all of a sudden two figures leapt out from behind a corner in front of the Angel of Death, both them and it stopping in their tracks. Takumi also stopped running as he saw what the two figures were - two more Kishin.

The two Kishin looked closer to having the appearance of humans than the one they had already been chasing. Moreover, they were close to being identical in appearance. They both had clothes that looked like they belong in a civil war era, which were also torn and tattered in places. The taller one of the pair had a double-edge sword where its right arm should have been, and the shorter one had an identical blade where its left arm should have been.

Below them, a woman lay dead with multiple stab wounds in her body. The lack of a soul meant that one of the two Kishin must have already eaten it.

"Hey bro, what do we got here?" The taller Kishin spoke.

"Yeah bro, it looks like another couple runts from DWMA; and another Kishin." The shorter one said.

Takumi stepped back after hearing what those Kishin said. The second Kishin had said they were 'another' pair from DWMA. That meant they must have already fought someone before them, and won.

"Hey bro, what did we do with those DWMA runts again?" The taller brother asked.

"Yeah bro, we cut them open and ate their souls!" The shorter answered.

"They did what?" Zhi gasped.

"Hey bro, how about we cut these runts up too?"

"Yeah bro, that sounds like a plan to me."

Just then, the two brother Kishins walked up past the Angel of Death, who turned around and faced Takumi and Zhi as well. The Angel of Death was already giving them trouble on his own, and now they had two more to worry about that had apparently already defeated DWMA students before them. But either way, there was no way Takumi was going to run. If they could use Soul Resonance, they still might have a shot at winning.

The Angel of Death charged first, swinging down its claws on Takumi. Takumi brought up Zhi's chain and blocked, then pushed the Angel back and punched him in the gut. "Soul… force!" Takumi shouted and thrust his soul wavelength through his arm in into the Kishin, blowing him back behind the brother Kishin who were now running at them swinging their blade arms for Takumi's neck.

"Takumi!" Zhi shouted and suddenly reverted to human form behind Takumi.

Zhi pressed her feet against Takumi's back and he began to lean back, at which point Zhi pushed him back and out of the way of the attack. To follow it up, during the flip Takumi grabbed onto Zhi's legs and pulled her back with him before the Kishin brothers could make another attack at her.

Zhi turned back into a weapon and Takumi launched himself forward, punching the shorter brother back and then the taller one into a wall. "Right," Zhi warned Takumi as he was about to strike the taller brother again, but then shifted his attack so that it went right into the Angel's face, knocking him down to the ground.

Takumi saw the taller brother about to attack, and jumped back to avoid it, and then jumped back at him off the opposite building of the alley, punching the Kishin hard in the face against the wall.

"Duck," Zhi warned Takumi again, and he lowered his head just before the shorter brother swung his sword from behind him.

Takumi looked back at the short brother as it readied another attack and flipped back out of the alley to avoid it. It was a good thing Zhi was able to watch his back during this. If any one of those attack had hit because he hadn't known they were coming, he'd already be a goner. But that luck wasn't going to hold up forever. If they really wanted to pull a win out from behind, they needed Soul Resonance.

As the two of them thought that, the three Kishin ran toward them together. First the Angel bared its claws down on them, which Takumi dodged and countered, knocking him back. Then he caught the two attacks from the brother Kishin that followed, and held them at bay. But as the two Kishin began to push Takumi back, he let the blades go and jumped back before they gained an advantage.

"Takumi, we can do it; Soul Resonance." Zhi encouraged.

"Yeah," Takumi replied, and then got in a fighting stance with his hands at each side.

As the Angel began running toward Takumi with the brothers' close behind, Takumi closed his eyes and focused. He focused on sending his wavelength to Zhi, who focused on amplifying it and sending it back, and so on and so forth. After a moment, they could feel the spark of their souls making the connection at last.

As the spark occurred, the wavelength being sent back and forth between them began to get stronger faster. They could feel the power rushing through them; and now they could use it…

"Soul…" Takumi and Zhi began together, and at that moment the Angel of Death was right in front of them, bringing up its claws to strike them down. "…Resonance!" They yelled in unison and Takumi punched forward.

The Soul Resonance activated and Zhi's metal gloves suddenly enlarged. But that wasn't all there was to it; the metal grew and expanded to begin covering all of Takumi's arms like sleeves.

Due to this, the power Takumi and Zhi could output was increased by an astounding amount. The Angel of Death didn't even know what hit it as Takumi punched it right in the gut, launching it back several meters until it hit a food cart on the side of the road and doubled over before it rippled away with death, leaving its soul floating in its place.

Seeing this, the Kishin brothers stopped and stared. Takumi didn't wait for them to regain their composure and ran strait for them. "Hey bro," The tall brother started. "Those last punks didn't do something like this right?"

"Yeah bro, we didn't have to deal with something like this." The short one said.

Leaving the brother Kishin is shock, Takumi jumped over them and brought his fists crashing down to smashed them into the ground. But the two Kishins were tough, to finish them off, Takumi and Zhi unleashed their ultimate attack which they were only capable of using with Soul Resonance.

"Soul Fissure!" Takumi yelled out and sent his wavelength rushing through Zhi's weapon, which she amplified in power to phenomenal amounts, giving it a power they had ever seen before.

The wavelength was so strong that it ruptured within the two Kishin and even broke down the cement road beneath them, making two craters as large as them. With that incredible attack, the two Kishin died, and their souls now floated in front of them.

Zhi reverted to human form and grabbed the two souls. "Three Kishin in one night; I'd say that's a good days work." Zhi said and turned back to Takumi with a grin.

"Hurry up," Takumi said simply in reply.

"I know, we need to get back to DWMA as fast as possible." Zhi noted and popped the Kishin souls into her mouth one after another, and then jogged over to the Angel of Death's soul and ate it as well. "But hey, that puts our soul count at 4. We're really doing well, huh?"

"Let's go," Takumi said, disregarding Zhi's happy-go-lucky attitude and walking away.

Zhi scowled and chased after Takumi. "Hey, come on, you could at least celebrate a little, couldn't you?"

"No,"

"Aw, come on…" Zhi said, but soon dropped the conversation as they made their way to the airport.


	8. Soul Resonance 3

_Chapter 8: Soul Resonance 3_

"Are you two okay!?" This immediate question was asked of Takumi and Zhi by Naomi the second she found out they were back.

"Yeah of course, why wouldn't we be?" Zhi asked.

"This is why!" Naomi began and pulled a job request out of her pocket.

Naomi began explaining vigorously about how dangerous the 'Vicious Harpe Brothers' were and that they had been spotted in Kentucky. It took almost half an hour before Zhi and Takumi could finally understand what Naomi was really telling them.

"Fought them," Takumi said.

Naomi looked up at Takumi, being stopped while still explaining why she was freaking out so bad. It took a few seconds to dawn on her that Takumi meant they had, in fact, encountered the Harpe Brothers on their job. "WHAAAAAAAAAT!?" Naomi screamed out. "You mean you actually defeated the Vicious Harpe Brothers?" She asked, to which Takumi merely nodded.

"We beat them by using Soul Resonance." Zhi added.

"Wow, that's amazing." Florence complimented them.

"Too bad you didn't get back in time for class; Florence and I already made the mark today: went for the whole 3 minutes, although we could have gone much longer." Naomi said. "Of course we've been on plenty of jobs already, and learned how to properly use Soul Resonance a long time ago. So it's only natural that we'd already have a handle on it."

"What, we didn't even have a chance yet, that's not fair!" Zhi complained.

"Sorry Zhi," Florence apologized.

"No, you don't need to apologize." Zhi replied.

"Oh, sorry," Florence apologized again.

"No, you don't need to apologize for apologizing either." Zhi said.

"Ah, you two are back?" Diego said, suddenly amidst Takumi and the others, once again scaring them half to death.

"Hello, Mr. Diego," Zhi pulled out a greeting, despite her heart rate having accelerated by his arrival.

"So how was your mission?" Diego asked them. "Did you accomplish Soul Resonance?"

"Yes," Takumi answered.

"Good to hear, just make sure you practice a bit more to make sure you can hold it for the 3 minutes." Diego added. "Soul Resonance is an important weapon, the longer you can use it the better."

"That's right," Naomi cut in. "That Nolan guy and Kevin both tried today too. Nolan couldn't even get it started and would have torn the room apart if Mr. Diego didn't hold him down. And Kevin actually managed through for a couple minutes, but it was cut off before he made the full time."

"Wow, Kevin and Mignon got that close already?" Zhi was honestly surprised.

Kevin and Mignon were just as new at Soul Resonance as they were, so for them to have already come so close was nothing to scoff at. "Yes, the two of them worked well together." Florence said.

"Well, since you already missed today's class, you might as well get started practicing your Soul Resonance for tomorrow." Diego told Takumi and Zhi.

Since they now had the free time, Takumi and Zhi left the school grounds to find somewhere they could practice Soul Resonance. They decided to go to a section of the city that was basically a forest, but when they arrived they heard an all too familiar shout.

"Damn it! Why isn't it working!?" It was clearly the voice of Nolan Tupper.

Hearing his voice, Takumi and Zhi turned to where he was. He stood surrounded by cut down trees and while he was holding Dalibor who was in his battle ax form. From what he had said, it appeared he still couldn't get Soul Resonance to start.

"We've been going at it this whole with no luck. I'm getting bored." Dalibor told Nolan.

"Try it again!" Nolan ordered, and held Dalibor up high. "Soul…" He began, attempting to make the Soul Resonance occur.

As Zhi watched, her look of mild interest dropped into an annoyed frown. Takumi noticed her expression and but did not care about Nolan's training as she did. He thought of suggesting they just leave now and go somewhere else to train, but somehow felt Zhi had something else planned.

"…Resonance!" Nolan screamed and hacked Dalibor's edge at the bark of a tree, cutting it down but obviously not accomplishing a Resonance with his partner.

At that moment, Zhi dropped her head with a sigh of complete disappointment and then stood up, looking at them. "Takumi, follow my lead." She said and started walking over to Nolan and Dalibor without waiting for Takumi to reply.

Takumi gave an irritated sigh because he was being dragged into something he had nothing to do with, but stood up and followed Zhi anyways. They approached the pair from behind without saying anything until Zhi came up right behind Nolan and then slapped him in the back of the head, startling him.

"What the hell!?" he shouted and turned to figure out who it was who had hit him. When he saw Zhi he just seemed to get even more pissed off. "What do you want? Can't you see we're training here?"

"Idiot." Takumi said from behind, causing Nolan to whirl his head around to look at him.

In reaction, Nolan squinted his eyes and then grabbed Takumi's shirt collar. "What was that; do you want to start a fight?" He asked.

"Don't kid yourself. You're the ones who want to fight, not us." Zhi said without turning around.

Takumi brushed off Nolan's hand and stepped up beside Zhi. He realized what Zhi was attempting to do, and though he didn't care about Nolan one way or the other, he knew he would never convince Zhi it was pointless, so he just went along with it.

Takumi spread his hands out a bit and Zhi morphed into her weapon form. After that, Nolan and Dalibor watched them as they began to do what he was unable to. "Soul…" Takumi and Zhi spoke together, and Zhi's weapon form began expanding over Takumi's arms. "…Resonance!"

As Zhi and Takumi shouted this together, Takumi put one leg back and stretched his arm behind him to prep for a punch. He took a side glance back at Nolan who stood there with an expression that told he didn't understand what they were trying to do. As that didn't matter to him, he looked away again, and then lurched his body forward and slammed his fist into the ground.

"Soul Fissure!" He shouted, and then by shooting a massive amount of soul wavelength through Zhi which only intensified its force, it was like an earthquake suddenly ripped through the ground in front of them, breaking through the solid rock ground four yards ahead.

After the demonstration was complete, Zhi transformed back into human form and looked back at Nolan and Dalibor who also changed back to human with a light grin on her face. Zhi looked back and forth between the pair's expressions which were both basically confused.

Zhi turned back to Takumi. "Let's go." She said and started walking away with Takumi, passing Nolan and Dalibor without explaining the purpose behind having shown them that.

For once, the two boys did not attempt to attack them as they walked away. "Well what was that about?" Dalibor asked aloud.

"The heck should I know!" Nolan immediately shouted out in reply, startling Dalibor a bit.

Normally Dalibor was fine with Nolan's temper, and many times encouraged it because it meant he fought a lot more. But on rare occasions like this one, there seemed to be a different reason behind his angry shouts. What those reasons were Dalibor never knew or tried to figure out, and just let Nolan deal with whatever it was himself.

"Stupid~" A voice suddenly spoke to Nolan with a light tone, as if it was a half sarcastic remark.

Nolan and Dalibor looked to the side where it came from and saw a tall dark-skinned girl walking toward them with a little boy 7 years old. The dark-skinned girl had black eyes and long golden hair she held up with a headband that had a skull on it. She wore a black and white striped shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows and had her hands tucked inside the front pocket of the overalls she wore over it. The boy beside her was African; he had dark eyes and short black hair. His clothes looked oddly formal for someone so young, a black collar shirt and formal pants.

Nolan and Dalibor of course knew who they were. Their names were Elea and Narz, and they had been their examiners for early entrance into the EAT class as Naomi and Florence had been for Takumi and Zhi.

As they approached, Elea began repeating the previously stated word. "Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid… Nolan." She said with a playfully sarcastic tone, and then put her arm around Nolan, leaning her weight against him.

And yet strangely, Nolan did not react to this. Normally he would have punched the girl long before now. Yet in this instance, he simply kept his gaze off of Elea, looking toward the broken ground.

He was angry to be sure, but this anger for some purpose he kept inside rather than letting it rage outward. After a second of silence, the young boy named Narz asked a question. "Why do you pretend?" He questioned Nolan.

Dalibor was confused by what the question meant, but even after being questioned, Nolan did not react. "Well, answer the kid." Elea said, once more in a playful tone while keeping her arm wrapped around Nolan's neck. "It's only polite you know."

"Shut up!" Nolan growled, tearing away from Elea and taking a few steps away, his back turned to them.

"Why don't you accept help from others?" Narz asked.

This time, Nolan reacted. In response to Narz's question, Nolan spun around and took large steps toward him. "Listen you little punk-" But he was cut off by Elea stepping between him and Narz.

"Hey, no touching the boy; you know that." She said, her airy sarcasm gone. "Anything happens to him it's my head that rolls." Nolan simply looked up at Elea and stared her in the eye. "You know if you want a fight just say so. I'll be happy to spar with you." She said, the suggestion sounding more like a threat than anything else.

"Fine," Nolan shouted and then held out his hand to cue Dalibor to transform.

Dalibor was lost as far as the conversation went. However, the want to fight was definitely something he understood. He grinned and transform into his ax form. As he did, Elea took a few steps back and held Narz's hand.

"Let's go." Elea stated with a light tone.

When she did, she swung the hand she was holding Narz's in and began to swing him up like a swing on a playground. At that time, the young boy transformed into his weapon form. He became a sword that was so comically huge it looked like something taken straight out of a fantasy story, and the only logical reason behind Elea's ability to hold it up lied in her compatibility with her partner.

Without waiting any longer than that, Nolan charged forward to vent his frustrations on Elea.

"Why?" Takumi inquired into the reason Zhi had done what she had.

"It was annoying." Zhi said and looked up into the sky, putting her hands behind her head. "All Nolan was doing was swinging Dalibor around; he obviously didn't understand the first thing about how to accomplish Soul Resonance.

"He's the kind of idiot who only learns anything by getting it knocked into him, so I gave him a demonstration of how it's supposed to be done to stimulate his brain."

Her reason had been that simple. It had nothing to do with pity toward Nolan or being too nice to leave it alone; but rather seeing someone be that stupid in front of her had annoyed her to such an extent that she was unable to leave it be until she was satisfied.

It was just Zhi being a control freak – If she didn't like something, she would change it. In one way Takumi understood that kind of desire, except he would not have gone out of his way to help someone else just because of that.

Takumi gave a sigh of resignation as a sign he would not be asking into that event anymore, having either been satisfied or simply losing interest in it altogether. "Let's go." He said, beginning to walk ahead of Zhi and lead her to a new place where they would be able to train in Soul Resonance.

With their partners pushing against one another, Nolan stared at Elea with fury tucked in his eyes. Both of their partners transformed into heavy-bladed, close-combat weapons, so the two of them were pretty matched fighters. That fact had been why Diego chose these two to be their examiners for entrance to the EAT class, knowing it would provide a decent test.

While the two weapons were locked against each other, Elea spoke to Nolan. "You know you never did answer Narz's questions." She noted. "Why don't you accept help from others?"

"Shut it!" Nolan shouted and pushed Elea away from him.

"You know what those two were showing you, but you ignored it and claimed you had no idea what they were doing." Elea continued with a tone that made it sound like she was enjoying prying into Nolan's thoughts.

"Wait, really?" Dalibor questioned, being temporarily distracted from the rush of battle, wondering if that was the reason behind his strange behavior once Takumi and Zhi left.

"Shut up!" Nolan yelled at both Elea and Dalibor as he tightened his grip and ran at Elea again.

It was all the answer Dalibor needed. If Nolan wasn't denying it, it must have been true. Nolan swung Dalibor's blade at Elea, who put up her partner and blocked the attack and then deflected it to the side, Knocking Nolan off balance.

"Should we give him an extended lesson?" Narz asked his Meister.

"Yeah, after all…" Elea started to say, and then pulled her Weapon up over her head, holding it with one hand and crouching low with one leg stretched forward, putting the index finger of her free hand at the tip of the blade. "…It's the only way this idiot will learn." She said playfully, and then began trading off her soul wavelength with her partner.

"Soul… Resonance!" The two of them spoke in unison and when they released their Soul Resonance, Narz's weapon form suddenly and instantly thinned out, though retained his 5 foot long blade, and the image of a dragon spiraled up the blade. "Bushido Art," They said, giving the name of their Resonance.

When the name was stated, the sword was covered in bright red-orange flames that seemed to shine like the sun. Nolan was noticeably angered by Elea's showing off her Soul Resonance, as it just reminded him that he had been unable to do so, compacted by the fact they were attempting to help him learn how to when he did not want their help at all.

Tightening his grip on Dalibor, he once again rushed at them and threw his partner's blade on top of Elea's head. When he did, Elea shifted her position and gripped Narz's handle with both hands and blocked, holding her ground.

Then, Elea pushed up and threw Nolan backward and then held Narz up with the tip of his blade facing the sky, the flames dancing along the edge of the blade. "Burn," Elea spoke the single word as a warning her attack was coming to let Nolan know that he should dodge.

When she did, she took one step forward and threw the burning blade of her Weapon down into the ground, which caused a line of bright flames to burn over the ground toward Nolan. Regaining his balance, Nolan immediately ducked to the side to avoid being burnt to a crisp, which that flame would have literally done to him.

"Are you nuts woman!?" Nolan screamed. "That literally would have killed me if it hit!"

"Well I knew you'd dodge it, so there was nothing to worry about." She answered, although her tone did not convince him of that.

"If you want to get even, use that knowledge that pair earlier and I have hammered into your thick skull." Elea said, pointing to her own head to symbolize Nolan's "thick skull".

Nolan gritted his teeth, but at this point his boiling point had been exceeded its capacity 100 times over. Once again he tightened his grip on Dalibor and twisted his hands on the grip.

When he did, Dalibor suddenly felt a shock spike through his soul. He felt Nolan's wavelength coursing through him, and upon realizing that, he grinned to himself and began tossing it back and forth between him and his partner, strengthening it to create that technique they had yet to succeed. "Soul Resonance!" The two screamed together, Nolan is anger and Dalibor in an exhilarated rush of battle craze.

When they did, their strengthened soul wavelength was given visible form on the edges of Dalibor's ax blades. In the form of green energy blades, Elea watched with satisfaction as Nolan brought his Weapon behind his head and held him as if it were a baseball bat.

In that position, Nolan gave name to his new, all powerful attack. "Beheading Crescent!" He shouted and then swung Dalibor, sending one of the wavelength blades flying at Elea's neck.

In response, Elea hurriedly ducked to the side and rolled over the ground, allowing Nolan's attack to fly past and chop down 20 trees before it dissipated. She gave an impressed whistle but then turned back only to find a second "Beheading Crescent" flying at her. Caught off guard, Elea reflexively put up her Weapon and defended against the attack.

The attack pressed against Narz's weapon and pushed Elea back, her feet grinding across the ground. For having just been completed, its power was amazing, but Elea managed to cut through it and save her head, literally.

"The hell, Nolan!? That almost _did _kill me!" She said frustrated as Narz reverted to human form, both breathing heavy.

"Good thing you blocked then." Nolan replied, making it sound as though he had been attempting to do just that.

Dalibor reverted to human form and then Nolan walked up to Elea. When he was over her, he held down his hand to help her up, which surprised her. She took his hand and got to her feet, but just as she did, Nolan took his other hand and punched Elea in the face back to the ground.

"Hey, what was that for?" She asked.

"That was for interfering with my practice!" Nolan answered, solidifying the fact he did not want her assistance. Elea clicked her tongue and stood back up. And yet once again, Nolan fist suddenly flew at her face, knocking her down yet again. "And since you don't let me touch Narz, you get to take his punishment too!" He told her, and then stood over her, cracking his knuckles with an evil look in his eyes.

The look she was given made Elea nervous. "Wh-what now?" She asked, rubbing her cheek where she was hit.

"Well, I've got two more punches I'll have you take. Since Takumi and Zhi aren't here to take 'em themselves and all." He said, at which Elea gave a nervous laugh before Nolan's fist flew down at her two more times.

The next day Elea arrived to class with Narz and her cheeks had enlarged and bruised from taking Nolan's punches. Due to the pain in her face, Elea just plopped down in the closest seat, which happened to be right next to Naomi and Florence.

"Wow, what happened to you?" Naomi asked upon seeing her friend's injuries.

In a sarcastic tone as if to make light of her own misery, Elea answered Naomi. "I got punched by a jerk."

During class, Takumi and Zhi, Kevin and Mignon, as well as Nolan and Dalibor all attempted the three minute Soul Resonance and all passed easily. Elea had watched with only one eye open, but when Nolan passed, she formed a pleased grin on her sore lips, which ended up hurting to have done. "Ouch."


	9. Taboo

_Chapter 9: Taboo_

Takumi and Zhi walked into the cafeteria of DWMA for breakfast, and were soon joined by Naomi and Florence, who brought with them two people they did not know.

"Who's this?" Zhi asked Florence.

"Ah, this is Elea and her partner Narz. They're a couple of friends of ours." Florence answered.

"Nice to meet you two, Takumi Watanabe and Zhi Xiyan." Elea greeted them, surprising the two that she already knew the names. "Naomi spared me no details about when she tested you for the EAT class." She noted, being sarcastic about the fact Naomi over explains everything. Zhi laughed at Elea's joke. "And since I brought it up, me and Narz here are the ones who tested your 'good friends' Nolan and Dalibor for their early graduation."

"And they passed?" Zhi joked, as she and Takumi had defeated them so many times it seemed embarrassing.

"They're stronger than you give 'em credit for. If Nolan just learned how to channel his anger more, he'd be golden." Elea said.

"So, Narz, what kind of weapon do you transform into?" Zhi asked the young boy, having figured out he was a weapon using her Soul Perception.

Being asked this question, Narz looked up and made a child-like grin. "Do you want to see?" He asked, to which Zhi nodded her head. "Would you mind sparring?" He asked.

Since he requested a match, Zhi would have accepted, but she wasn't sure if Takumi would want to, so she looked back at him for some kind of confirmation.

Swallowing a sip of water, Takumi put the glass down and answered. "Alright." He agreed, although he sounded unenthusiastic about it.

Even still, Zhi smiled happily and then turned back to Narz and nodded. When she did, he stood up and looked over at Izola, who had been sitting a few tables down. "Hey mom; come supervise our match?" He requested, and she turned and look at him with a smile.

"Of course Narz." She answered.

"Eh, Ms. Izola is your mother?" Zhi questioned.

"Yeah," Elea answered for Narz, who ran over to hug Izola. "And since I'm Narz's partner, she holds it over me to keep him safe. Anything happens to him and I'm dead meat." She said, moving her finger across her neck and cocking her head to the side with her tongue out as if she had died.

"Well, shall we get started?" Narz asked, and then the group all stood up to go to the hall for their match.

Once there, Naomi and Florence sat by the wall near Izola to watch the match. "So, who do you think will win?" Florence asked her sister.

"Hm, well…" Naomi began, giving it some thought. "I'd like to say Elea and Narz will win; they've certainly got more experience under their belt. But of course we know firsthand how much natural talent Takumi and Zhi have. Zhi could pack a punch even without transforming with a Meister, and her special ability to take control of a Weapon by striking the Meister only makes things more difficult for their opponents.

"Of course I already told Elea about that power, so she'll be on guard; but this match could go either way."

While Naomi was talking, Zhi had transformed into her weapon form and Takumi waited for Narz to do the same. Zhi watched as Elea held out her hand to Narz and he transformed, becoming a sword that looked too big to actually be held up.

Zhi was a bit surprised that the young little boy turned into something that looked so menacing, but regained her composure for the fight to come. "Ready to go?" Elea asked.

"Go ahead." Takumi stated, allowing Elea the first move.

Smiling, Elea shifted her weight onto one foot and then used it to suddenly burst herself forward and got next to Takumi in a matter of seconds, already swinging Narz at his throat. Her movements were much faster than one would have expected possible while wielding such a huge blade, but evidentially that did not matter in this case.

But Takumi still had the time to make his move. As soon as Narz's edge was in front of him, he began bending backward and got his head under the blade. Once Narz flew over his head, Takumi twisted himself around while he was straightening himself out and basically flung his fist into Elea's back, making her stumble forward as he stepped back an put distance between them.

"Alright, now if we can get our hands on Narz this match is as good as ours." Zhi whispered to Takumi. Since Takumi landed a punch on Elea, he could now utilize Zhi's special ability to control any Weapon that she would be compatible with; which naturally included Narz.

"No," Takumi muttered, surprising Zhi.

"Eh, really?" Zhi asked, sounding curious.

Without answering, Takumi put up his fists and waited for Elea to make her next move. However, Elea did not approach, and instead took her own stance by holding her Weapon's hilt with both hands, keeping his blade extended right in front of her.

The two Meister's peered into the other's eyes while just waiting for each other to make the next move. As they did, Izola, Naomi and Florence watched from the sidelines, having to guess at what the combatants' plans actually were. Then, Takumi finally made his move.

He started running toward Elea in a zigzag as if trying to throw his opponent off. When he closed the gap between them, he suddenly threw his hand forward toward Narz as if making to grab him.

But when he did that, Elea smiled. "Predictable!" She told Takumi while at the same time shifting her Weapon to the side before Takumi could grab it.

Elea had him, she had planned for Takumi to attempt to take Narz from her, and intentionally let him get that first strike on her to make him feel like he had the upper hand. Now, with his rhythm disrupted by the sudden shift in her position, he was left wide open.

Since this wasn't a death match, Elea swung her Weapon with the flat end of his blade facing Takumi, sure she would hit unlike her first attack where she intentionally missed. However, when she swung Narz from the side, it was suddenly stopped short by Takumi's second hand, which was protected with Zhi's metal glove.

Takumi gripped Narz tight as to not let Elea get away unless she planned to leave Narz in his hands. As he did, he curled the fingers of his hand that had originally been outstretched to grab Narz into a fist without any hesitation as if he had planned it that way. "My line," He told Elea, telling her that she had been the one who was predictable.

Takumi had not charged straight in intending to simply grab Narz out of her hands like stealing candy from a baby. The moment Elea initiated her first attack it became obvious to him what her plan was. Takumi had noticed Elea pull back on her first attack to allow him room to dodge, but that had been her biggest mistake. She had actually overestimated his ability; if Elea had used the flat end of her sword for her first attack and not held back, Takumi would have unfortunately been unable to duck completely in time. And even if he managed to stay in the fight after the first strike, if she had continued on without holding back, with her speed this battle would have already been over in her favor.

But because she had overanalyzed her strategy, Takumi had a shot at victory. He punched Elea's face and let go of Narz, which sent both of them flying back. There were two reasons for Takumi's 'no' to Zhi earlier about taking Narz. One was his knowledge of Elea's plan, and Zhi had been surprised that was the case. The second reason however was because he wanted this to be a fair fight, if he won because he had stolen her Weapon, it would not have been a victory in his eyes.

That kind of desire was something Zhi understood entirely. Her competitive nature had always prompted her to beat her opponents at their best while also fighting at her best. She would normally use every tool at her disposal to achieve victory, but with the way Takumi had put it, she no longer wished to win like that either.

Elea got to her feet and rubbed her cheek where she had been punched. But instead of a scowl on her face, she held a satisfied grin. Seeing her expression, Zhi smirked inside her soul. She was already beginning to really like Elea and Narz, and let herself be engulfed in the excitement of their battle.

"Not bad, you're every bit as good as Naomi said you were." Elea told Takumi, holding Narz up to go for round two.

"Too much," Takumi replied, meaning that Elea was giving him too much credit, as he knew he could have already lost.

Takumi and Elea had another stare down. Elea wouldn't fall for the same trick twice, and Takumi knew it, so this time he would wait for her to attack. And this time he would be prepared for her speed.

Zhi breathed in deeply and focused herself on their opponents. For a moment, she began to use Soul Perception to identify the exact strength of Elea and Narz. Their souls were in perfect sync with one another and it only made them both stronger as a result; and Zhi was impressed with the growth their souls had already gone through together.

But suddenly… **_%##&*$^&#%^_**

A disturbance blew through Zhi's mind like static on a radio that completely blurred her perception. Her mind fuzzed over and she couldn't focus on what was in front of her. (What the-) Zhi thought as she attempted to regain control of herself.

Slowly, her mind resettled into its proper state, and when that happened she noticed something abnormal and dangerous moving toward them from the other side of the wall. Takumi and Elea were still having a stare down, so neither one had moved an inch, but the dangerous wavelength was approaching fast from the side, and obviously had the intention of ramming through the wall to get at them.

In haste and confusion, Zhi shouted out. "Takumi, look out!"

Her shout broke the concentration of both combatants as they had no idea what had prompted the reaction. When she shouted, Zhi reverted to human form and jumped up, kicking her foot toward the wall as the dangerous wavelength was about to crash through. Surprising everyone but her, the wall she was kicking toward was broken down in an instant, and a figure came crashing through with its arm outstretched.

Zhi attempted to hit the figure with her foot, but the instant the dangerous person noticed her, its outstretched arm moved and grabbed her leg. The figure, which Takumi could see now was a boy a few years older than he, swung his arm around and flung Zhi into the ground, and she yelped in pain upon hitting the ground.

"What-" Elea stuttered at the sight and her voice caught in her throat.

"Oh no…" Izola was left nearly speechless upon seeing the boy and then turned to the side and whistled loudly as if trying to call someone over.

"Oh crap!" Naomi muttered as she and Florence stood up but kept back to the wall.

The boy who had suddenly and violently come crashing through the wall had pale, sickly skin and razor sharp teeth. He wore a blue sleeveless V-neck shirt that had a high standing collar. He had dark brown fingerless gloves on his hands with long cuffs and baggy white trousers with a black sash around his waist and had blue shoes with metal padding on the toes. His hair was grey and spiky, and although Takumi couldn't get a good look because of the fast pace of the scene, he could see the boy had some kind of tattoo on his chest where the V-neck parted.

However, despite the suddenness of it all, Takumi did not hesitate to throw a punch at the person who had just thrown his partner into the ground. But when he did, the boy took notice of him and then moved with wicked fast reflexes. He crouched down and circled around Takumi in an instant, and then hooked his arm around Takumi's neck, flipping him over and sending him crashing into the ground.

The monstrous boy then stood over Takumi and raised his foot as if preparing to crush his head under it. However, before he brought his foot down, Diego suddenly came from the side and tackled the boy away from Takumi while holding Izola in his left hand in her weapon form. "Soul Resonance!" He and Izola shouted together and almost instantly, four shadows of Izola's blade form appeared in the air around them.

Without hesitating, Diego pointed Izola's tip forward and sent the four shadow blades stabbing down on the boy. "Bind!" He shouted as two of the blades stuck into the mystery boy's legs near his feet and another into his right arm.

However, the boy managed to move his left arm out of the way before it was pierced and stuck to the ground, and he used it to grab and crush the shadow blade in his right arm, and it didn't even leave a wound. He then crushed the blades at his legs which also left no wound on him, which had likely been the cause of the 'bind' command Diego had used.

The boy immediately got to his feet and hurled himself at Diego, with his tongue hanging out of his mouth like a monster. Diego was about to counter attack when suddenly Takumi got back to his feet between them and caught the boy mid jump over his shoulders and then tossed him into the air.

"Zhi!" Takumi shouted, and Zhi got back to her feet and jumped toward Takumi, transforming to her weapon form on his command.

Takumi ran toward where the boy would fall and pulled his fist back to strike the boy mid fall. However, when he struck his fist forward, the boy managed to use his hand and grab Takumi's wrist and keep him above the attack, and then used Takumi's arm as a fulcrum to shift his body around and swing his leg at Takumi's head.

Takumi reacted just in time and bent his head backward to just narrowly avoid the attack and pull his arm out of the boy's grip. The boy landed on his feet as Takumi flipped backward to put distance between them. When Takumi stopped he finally got a good look at the tattoo on the boy's chest. He had thought the blur had played a trick on his eyes the first time, but now he realized that what he saw had been real.

But before he could do anything with that information, an odd sensation filled the hallway that every person felt. It lasted only an instant but felt like they had all been swallowed in a perpetual blackness that Zhi recognized as the same type of sensation she had felt just moments ago when she used Soul Perception.

But more importantly, when the instant past everyone suddenly noticed a new figure that had come out of nowhere; he was standing behind the mysterious boy with his right hand, which was wrapped in bandages, resting on the boy's shoulder. He was lean and tall and had long dark hair tied at the back of his head. He wore an almost too tight sleeveless black shirt and navy blue pants with black Chinese style shoes and a ninja tool pouch was strapped to his left forearm.

Takumi and Zhi had no idea what just happened, but when the new person put his hand on the boy that had just attacked them, the boy seemed to freeze in place as if immobilized. However, Zhi did not seem to care what was going on, and she transformed back to human form and jumped at the monstrous boy with her leg stretched to kick him in the face, but instead of her usual expression of pride, her teeth were clenched in fear as she was covered in a nervous sweat.

She attacked the boy out of a fear Takumi had never seen on her before and wondered just what was wrong with her because of it. However, before Zhi's kick connected, the odd feeling of perpetual blackness returned for just an instant, and when it was over, the boy who had frozen the monstrous boy was suddenly in front of him, holding Zhi's foot to stop her attack.

But unlike the boy behind him, he instead opted to simply pull Zhi down and set her feet on the ground without harming her. "You'll have to forgive my partner; he gets a little excited when he feels strong souls in mid-combat." He told Zhi and Takumi, speaking in a monotone voice with a stale expression on his face. "But you understand I'm sure." He noted, motioning to Zhi. "Not much to be done about a Kishin's bloodlust."

The term Kishin caused Takumi unrest. Was this person actually trying to say that the boy that had just attacked them was in fact a Kishin inside DWMA? But that was not the only thing on Takumi's mind, the tattoo on the supposed Kishin's chest was one he recognized from his studies in Japan his father had taught him. It was a star tattoo that signified him as part of the Star clan.

The Star clan was a lethal family of assassin's that were notorious for doing anything for money. And the boy's strength had certainly lived up to the clan's reputation, even he had been overpowered. However, that left a vital question to be answered.

"And you…" Takumi spoke to the boy who had somehow stopped the supposed Kishin Star Clan boy, asking him who he was.

"My name is Muramasa Nakatsukasa. I am this boy's partner, Weapon, and handler." The boy answered Takumi.

Nakatsukasa; yet another name Takumi was familiar with. The Nakatsukasa was an ancient family of Weapons that were directly descended from the first Weapons from over 700 years ago.

"I see the two of you are quite rattled from everything that has just happened, and I do not blame you. But if you would come with me, I will explain everything to you clearly." Muramasa told Zhi and Takumi.

However, Takumi realized that he was only referring to them. He did not seem to be worried about everyone else's reactions, and when he looked around he noticed that no one else had moved a muscle except for Diego and Izola, who had stepped in to protect them. He realized they all must have known what was going on and knew not to get involved, which left the important question: Just what was going on?

"That's quite alright Muramasa," Diego said, stepping up to them with Izola following behind. "You just worry about BlueStar. I'll take care of explaining the situation to Takumi and Zhi."

"Understood," Muramasa nodded to Diego, and then turned back to the Star Clan boy called BlueStar. "Let's go, BlueStar." Muramasa told the boy and put his hand on his arm, and suddenly BlueStar began to walk away, as if he didn't have any more interest in fighting.

But then, as the two of them began walking away, Zhi suddenly began to move again. Her fear had apparently overridden the revelation that these two were not enemies and she made to attack BlueStar yet again. But once again the hallway was eclipsed in blackness and then Muramasa was suddenly beside Zhi and grabbed her arm to stop her, where she froze.

"I'm impressed, no one has ever broken my control so quickly before." Muramasa told her, although he continued to speak in a monotone voice that went against his statement of being impressed. "Perhaps it is because your ability so closely resembles mine?" he speculated, but without waiting for an answer began walking away with BlueStar beside him again, and they vanished around a corner by the time Zhi began moving again.

She was still covered in a nervous sweat and now was breathing heavily like her lungs had stopped working for a moment. In midst of all of that, there was a moment of unrest and silence in the hallway except for Zhi's breathing.

Where Elea stood, Narz changed back to human form and then ran over to his mother Izola, who then picked him up and held him in her arms. "It's okay Narz, it's okay." Izola assured her son; apparently he had been even more scared than Zhi.

"Sorry about all of that." Elea said, her usual sarcastic tone gone. "Well… I'll be going now Ms. Izola." She told her teacher, who nodded to her to give her the okay to leave Narz with her.

"Are you both alright?" Florence asked Zhi and Takumi as she and Naomi walked over to them, both with uncomfortable expressions.

"Fine…" Takumi answered, but looked at Zhi and couldn't be so sure about her, who was still looking after where Muramasa and BlueStar left with her eyes peeled open in fear, as if they might come back and attack again.

Finally, Diego spoke up. "Well, you two had best sit down for this." He told them, making it almost sound morbid.

Zhi went over to a wall and pretty much collapsed onto the ground and hid her eyes behind her hand, still shaking from everything that happened, but Takumi opted to stay standing next to her, placing his hand on her shoulder to try and calm her down. "What?" Takumi asked Diego to start explaining.

"Those two are the strongest students of DWMA, Muramasa Nakatsukasa and BlueStar." He began simple.

However, when he said that, Takumi noticed Zhi stop shivering in fear. "Did you say 'students'?" She asked Diego without removing her hand from in front of her eyes and her voice sounding like she was angry at the term.

"I know what you're thinking," Diego sighed. "'How could a Kishin be a student at DWMA,' right?" He asked her rhetorically. "Well, I'll tell you the story, so just listen. It was a few years back; BlueStar was an infamous Kishin back then who had become so strong, he came and directly attacked DWMA." As Diego went through what happened, Takumi and Zhi listened to the story quietly, waiting to understand the story of how BlueStar came to be a student.

_The attack had come without warning. Out of nowhere, a figure crashed through the ceiling of DWMA; that was BlueStar. He roared and began running through the hall of students who weren't sure what had just happened or how to react._

_ BlueStar attacked anyone who tried to attack him, but as he continued past, he wasn't killing anyone. How difficult it may have been to believe, BlueStar was not on an indiscriminate killing spree. In truth, he was here to try and personally kill Lord Death._

_ That was just how strong BlueStar thought he was. He believed he would be able to overpower and kill Lord Death all on his own. He was certainly proving himself powerful by rampaging through the halls, taking down anyone who dared try and harm him, but even a full blown Kishin would have been defeated by Lord Death, so surely he had had no chance from the get go._

_ BlueStar made it all the way to Lord Death's chambers. However, when he arrived, Diego was there to protect him with Izola in his left hand. "Not one move Kishin." Diego warned BlueStar._

_ But being a Kishin, Diego's threats meant nothing to BlueStar. BlueStar immediately charged Diego and fought him on his own. The fight had been difficult for both combatants, even after Diego and Izola used Soul Resonance. But finally, Diego got his chance and use 'bind' to pin BlueStar to the wall._

_ But that had been a mistake; BlueStar was too quick to fall for something like that unless it had been a surprise attack. Being clearly in front of him, BlueStar easily ran and jumped out of the way and got his chance to knock Diego down._

_ "Your turn!" BlueStar yelled at Lord Death and charged him._

_ However, before he had even taken 3 steps, Lord Death attacked him. Firing off a shockwave of his Soul Wavelength from his hand, he immediately threw BlueStar into the ground, and making him bruised all over in an instant._

_ It was amazing enough that BlueStar had survived the attack, but what was even more amazing was what he did after that. Diego started pulling himself back to his feet when he suddenly heard laughing. He looked at BlueStar to find him flat on the ground, laughing at his own utter defeat._

_ "Oh man, that wouldn't even work as a bad joke!" BlueStar said, mocking himself. He looked at Lord Death without moving up from the ground and saw the anger in his eyes as he prepared to finish him off. "Hey now, wait a minute before deciding to kill me, huh? I got a proposition for you."_

_ "Proposition?" Diego muttered to himself, the idea that a Kishin was trying to negotiate for his life with Lord Death himself sounded preposterous._

_ But despite the insanity of the idea, Lord Death appeared to be holding off his attack until hearing what BlueStar had to say. "How's this: if you don't kill me, I'll work for you as a student." He told Lord Death. "I'll partner up with one of your Weapons and go around hunting other Kishin and Witches, and I'll swear not to kill another human as long as I work under you."He explained the bargain._

_ At least to BlueStar, that must have sounded like a pretty good deal. There was no denying his incredible strength after fighting off Diego and Izola, so he must have thought that offering to do this would have given DWMA a powerful asset._

_ However, he looked back at Lord Death again and saw that his expression had not changed in the slightest, although he had not moved to attack him either. "No deal." Lord Death said at last. "You promise not to kill another human if I accept this deal, but you and I both now that a Kishin will not be able to ignore the bloodlust in his soul forever. You'll break that promise soon enough if I let you live, so there's no point in accepting your offer!" As Lord Death said this, he raised his hand and prepared to kill BlueStar in one fell swoop._

_ But just then, a voice stopped Lord Death in his tracks. "Then pair him with me." The voice said, and when it did, Diego, BlueStar, and Lord Death looked to the door to see one of DWMA's students, Muramasa Nakatsukasa standing there. "I'll pair with him and keep him out of trouble."_

_ "What do you mean?" Lord Death asked._

_ "My 'Uncanny Sword' transformation." Muramasa answered, which let Lord Death realize exactly what he planned to do. "With the Uncanny Sword's powers, I can control this Kishin should he ever attempt to kill a human._

_ "This is beneficial to me as well." Muramasa added. "Because of the Uncanny Sword's properties, anyone who wields me in this form is liable to have their soul deteriorated and fall into the path of the Kishin. But if I pair with someone who is already a Kishin, that will no longer a problem in the slightest."_

"After that, Lord Death made BlueStar Muramasa's personal responsibility. Since then, the two have become the strongest pair in DWMA, and an unbelievable asset to us." Diego finished his story and became silent, waiting for Takumi or Zhi to say something about it all.

Finally, Zhi inhaled deeply and stood up. "I understand. Wish I had known about it sooner though, I wouldn't have been as worried had I known." She told Diego as she wiped of the remaining sweat on her face away.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Florence asked, worrying about Zhi's condition.

"I'll be fine," Zhi assured Florence with a soft smile. "Well, if that's all, we should probably get to class, right Takumi?"

"Oh that's right," Naomi sounded surprised. "That fight took such an unexpected twist I completely forgot the time; we should get moving."

"That's quite alright since you're all with me." Diego said with a chuckle. "We'll all just go together."

"Good, let's go Takumi." Zhi said, finally seeming to be back to her usual self after everything that happened.

After that Izola put Narz down, who also seemed to have calmed down, and they all went to class. Class went by smoothly, and Takumi realized that Muramasa and BlueStar had never been to a class. He wondered if they didn't have to attend classes because of how strong they were or if it was the fact BlueStar was a Kishin that the school did not put them in usual classes and maybe gave them private lessons away from the other students.

Takumi didn't worry about it much and after class he and Zhi went to the cafeteria for lunch. But while eating, the people they wanted to see least at this point began walking past the other students toward them: Muramasa and BlueStar.

Takumi noticed Zhi's breathing become heavily when they noticed them; she was obviously still worked up over everything that had happened. When the strongest pair came up to them, BlueStar put his foot up on the table and spoke to them. "Yo, I wanted to apologize for attacking you two like that earlier, but like Lord Death told me, Kishin can't just simply suppress their urge to kill." He told them, although his tone gave the impression he was just apologizing as formality and he didn't mean a word of it.

"Fine," Takumi said, telling him he had stopped caring about it already, although he couldn't say the same for Zhi, who looked up at BlueStar with obvious frustration.

If BlueStar caught the look, he didn't care about it, because he continued speaking regardless. "But either way, I do want to fight you two if you've ever got a spare moment, on fair terms this time. What d'ya say?" He asked them and held out his hand to shake on it if they wished.

However, to answer him, Zhi stood up and stared BlueStar straight in the eye. "Not a chance." She said with disdain. "If I were to fight you, I'd kill you. So thanks but no thanks."

"Wow, I know I gave you a bad first impression but still…" BlueStar said, but had an amused tone from hearing Zhi's threatening voice.

"That's not it." Zhi corrected him. "I'd kill you because you are a Kishin, and that means you have killed many people in cold blood for no other purpose but to increase your own power. So you should just remember that the only reason I'm not killing you already is because Lord Death lets you live." She said, her tone and expression becoming so menacing she almost seemed like a different person.

Takumi had never seen Zhi get angry, not _genuinely _angry at someone. She would yell at people, but that was normally to scare them into doing something she wanted. But here she was showing a genuine loathing for BlueStar that she was just barely containing.

In response to this pure hatred of him, BlueStar cracked his smile wide and looked at Zhi. "Ho~ that sounds like a challenge to me." He said, now glaring into Zhi's eyes as she glared into his. "I like you girl; what was your name?" He asked, as he never asked for it earlier, but Zhi didn't dignify it with a response. "Not talking eh? Well, that's fine; maybe someday we'll get the chance to fight anyways." He proposed, half-sounding like a threat to Zhi.

The two of them continued to glare at each other until Muramasa cut in and put his hand on BlueStar's shoulder. When he did, BlueStar scowled back at him for stepping in on his fun but stepped back behind him anyways. "Sorry to disturb you." Muramasa told Zhi with his same monotone voice as always.

Muramasa gave Zhi a respectful bow, possibly in an attempt to better Zhi's opinion of them and then lead BlueStar away. However, before they had left, BlueStar stopped as he realized something extra. "Oh yeah, what about you?" He asked, directing his question at Takumi. "What was your name?"

Takumi looked over to the Kishin from the Star Clan, and then gave an answer. "Takumi," He said simply, but doing so made Zhi look back at him as if asking why he had given a Kishin his name at all.

"Takumi, huh? Hee, guess I'll be seeing you two around." BlueStar said and then turned away, walking out of the cafeteria along with Muramasa.


End file.
